After nearly 20 years of operation, digital video game storefront GOG is no longer a part of Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red. It is now fully owned by one of CDPR’s co-founders who also helped launch GOG.
On December 29, CDPR announced via a press release that its Steam-like storefront, GOG, has been fully acquired by CDPR co-founder Michał Kiciński. As part of the deal, Kiciński now owns 100 percent of GOG’s shares after purchasing them for 90 million PLN or about 25 million USD. The deal didn’t involve the co-founder selling any of his shares in CDPR.
“GOG and Michał Kiciński are aligned by a shared belief that games should live forever,” said GOG managing director Maciej Gołębiewski. “In a market that’s getting more crowded, more locked-in, and forgets classic games at an increasing pace, we’re doubling down on what only GOG does: reviving classics, keeping them playable on modern PCs, and helping great games find their audience over time.”
Launched in October 2008, GOG (originally known as Good Old Games) was started as a place for retro games to be sold by various publishers and developers. The store offers titles with no DRM and has since expanded greatly, selling new and old games while also starting an ambitious preservation program to help keep dated games running on modern hardware without publisher support.
As to why CDPR is selling GOG now, joint CEO Michał Nowakowski says the company has an “ambitious development roadmap” and plans to expand the studio’s franchises, so it made sense to split GOG off and let CDRP focus on its own projects.
“For a long time now, GOG has been operating independently. Now it’s going into very good hands — we are convinced that with the support of Michał Kiciński, one of GOG’s co-founders, its future will be full of great projects and successes,“ said Nowakowski.
While CDPR will no longer own GOG, it confirmed plans to continue to release its new games on the digital storefront. So, at least for now, it seems like nothing will be changing for players as GOG goes fully independent.
